"Deathwalker" discussion [spoilers]

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 1X09, "Deathwalker". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Extra reading:

The article for "Deathwalker" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

- You would think that more people would be able to recognise a Dilgar on sight.

- I like Jha’dur – she’s portrayed with the causual arrogance and sense of superior arrogance that really convinces you that this woman would wipe out entire species without any qualms.

- “Those few left after the invasion died when their sun went nova”? It seems unlikely that a species capable of invading and occupying other star systems would be unable to evacuate their homeworld in the event of a nova… unless the Dilgar War was their attempt to evacuate. Would explain why there were apparently few left on the homeworld after the war.

- I wonder who G’Kar’s blood oaths are against.

- Not sure if it’s intentional continuity, but it makes sense to assume the Grey Council member in Delenn’s quarters at the end of the last episode was there to inform her of whatever called her away in this episode.

- It occurs to me that Jha’dur may be misrepresenting the scale of her achievement. An immortality serum is a little hard to believe in – the Minbari and Centauri don’t have one, after all. But we don’t know she has one – all we know is that she’s apparently stoped her aging for a decade or two. And her goal isn’t to improve people’s lives – it’s to see her enemies turn on each other. Wouldn’t it be an even more delicious revenge if, after every race has slaughtered each other in pursuit of immortality, it turned out her discovery only prevents aging for a few dozen years?

- Of course, it’s also possible that Jha’dur had outside assistance in helping her develop… what she wanted.

- “Drazi Freehold” is an unusual name for a state. A ‘freehold’ is land that is permanently held by the owner, as opposed to leaseholds. For the Drazi to use this as the name of their territory implies they wish to emphasise that aspect of it; did they at one point only lease their planets from another power?

- Have we ever seen an ‘Ikshar’ in person? I don’t think we ever see that ship design again.

- Hey, how come Jha’dur gets to keep her Minbari ship? Shouldn’t she be being taken away on an Earth transport? And how does a Vorlon warship miss the first shot at point blank range?

- You know what – speaking as someone who only upgraded to a digital recorder last week… I’m not convinced the term ‘VCR’ is going to stick around for centuries.

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

You would think that more people would be able to recognise a Dilgar on sight.


Not necessarily, since they are supposed to have died out. People have a remarkable ability to reationalize away things that stare them in the face (and yes, I think that includes us all).

“Drazi Freehold” is an unusual name for a state.

It is, isn't it? Another idea: maybe they are conparing themselves (favourably) with other races which are subject to external powers, using a word from their soceity/legal system tio express this.

I’m not convinced the term ‘VCR’ is going to stick around for centuries.

Let's remember that this went out 15 years ago - DVDs were still in development, rewritable CDs even further away, not to speak of digital recorders.

Even if changes in technology are to be expected, words are often conservative, especially abbreviations where no-one remembers what exactly they stand for. So the suggestion that a recording device is still called VCR in the 23rd century was not such an unlikelyhood then - we now know that things are going differently, but only with the benefit of hindsight.

And I suppose calling such a being a "vicar" was just too good an opportunity to miss
;-)

[kathrid.livejournal.com]

Have we ever seen an ‘Ikshar’ in person? I don’t think we ever see that ship design again.

I don't think so. From the role-playing books, they are physically something like giant starfish. Certainly nowhere near the humanoid stereotype that B5 had to run with due to budget constraint. I think you only even hear them refered to once more, anyway, in series 5 (Veiw from the Gallery; I think they've been attacked by the fleet that then attacks the station). Oh, and the RPG calls them Ipshar.